Accessibility Links

Hands off referendum questions, PM warned

June 10 2011, 1:01am, The Times

Nick Clegg and Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore in Edinburgh. Mr Clegg appeared to put a fair distance between himself and Mr Moore’s controversial suggestion of two referendumsDanny Lawson/PA

Alex Salmond warned David Cameron last night that if he tried to interfere with the wording of a referendum on independence he would be guilty of “imperialism”.

The First Minister was responding to the Prime Minister’s reported comments that Scots must be asked the clear-cut question of whether they want to leave the United Kingdom, and that he was not prepared to give Mr Salmond a “blank cheque” when it came to framing that question.

Mr Cameron, who is on the record as saying that he would fight for the Union with “every fibre of my being”, is now said to be taking a new hardline approach to the prospect of Scottish independence and has set up a special Cabinet committee to tackle the issue.